At a Glance

At the turn of the millennium, the island of Rapa Nui — later named Easter Island by a Dutch explorer — flourished with the communities of early Polynesians. Delve into their legacy and history as you explore Easter Island and relish in an opportunity to study the monolithic moai that still exist. Meet archaeologists and historians who study these ancient peoples as well as local residents who continue to call this sub-tropical island their home.

Activity Level

Moderately Challenging

Physically demanding program with extensive walking over uneven terrain and along hillsides. Some stairs required.

Small Group

Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 10 to 24 participants.

Best of all, you'll ...

Walk around the quarry from which the massive moai were carved, which includes nearly 400 unfinished giants and spectacular petroglyphs.

Connect with local Rapanui people

Explore the island's most important archaeological sites — including Ahu Tongariki, Orongo Ceremonial Village, and Ahu Vinapu — and examine the mystery of why the moai were built, why they were toppled, and why the cult of the birdman arose.

General Notes

Due to the nature of this program, listening devices are not available.

Featured Expert

All Experts

Brigid Mulloy

Brigid has been traveling to Rapa Nui for 50 years, starting in her childhood when her father worked with famous anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl. During her visits and time spent living on the island, Brigid gained a deep connection to the Islanders and a unique understanding of the island’s history, culture and social issues. Brigid is on the board of the Easter Island Foundation and has traveled extensively in the Pacific. She lives on the Big Island of Hawaii where she is a midwife in Waimea.

This glossy guide provides a full-color introduction by a team of experts to the land, people, history and attractions of Chile. Brief background essays highlight important topics. With many local and regional maps.

A striking portfolio of 330 color photographs of the people, nature and landscape of the region, Hendrie's gorgeous book includes images from his many journeys to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, to Tahiti and the Marquesas, Tonga, Fiji, Easter Island and Hawaii over the last 20 years.

Diamond tackles nothing less than the history and fate of civilization in this compelling book in which he offers case studies, present and past, of societies that work and societies that do not, devoting 100 carefully reasoned pages, for example, to the fate of the Norse settlements in Greenland (climatic change, Inuit) and another big section on Easter Island (deforestation, hubris). This revised edition includes a new afterword.

The peripatetic author flies off to Australia and New Zealand with a kayak and ends up exploring much of Melanesia and Polynesia, including Tonga, Fiji and the Marquesas, in this wickedly funny, wide-ranging tale.

The hugely popular account of a daring 1947 voyage that sailed along the Humboldt and Equatorial currents from Peru to Tahiti. Apart from the sheer adventure, Heyerdahl wanted to show the world that Polynesians could have settled the region. With photographs.

This treasure trove of whimsical watercolor and ink paintings brings Easter Island's mysterious relics to life. Sternau is particularly adept at rendering the mystical moai -- the large stone statues of the ancient Rapa Nui civilization, but she also captures the island's landscape: from its idyllic beaches to dramatic cliffs.

An archaeologist who has worked on Rapa Nui since the 1980s and past president of the Easter Island Foundation, Sanger covers the history, archaeology, people and practicalities of Easter Island in this authoritative guide.

In this mesmerizing novel, Vanderbes spins parallel stories of two young women on Easter Island, one an archaeologist with a 1913 expedition and the other an American botanist who visits 60 years later.

Activity note: If you have made arrangements to arrive ahead of the group, when booking your hotel pre-stay, please note that we have secured early check-in at Hotel Plaza San Francisco in Santiago, Chile. This means that our group rooms are available for you to occupy starting at check-in time (which is 3:00 pm) on Day One of this program. If you are arriving on Day Two, rooms will be available immediately upon check-in.

Evening: Depart from the U.S.A. on overnight flights to Santiago, Chile. Refer to your personal air itinerary for specific flight information.

DAY

2

Arrival in Santiago, Orientation, Historic Santiago by bus

Santiago

L,D

Hotel Plaza San Francisco

Activity note: Rooms are guaranteed for early check-in. Half day trip will be done on a bus with some stop overs that will require getting on and off the bus.

Morning: Arrival to Santiago's Arturo Merino Benitez Airport in Santiago, Chile. See your program’s travel details regarding transfers. If you are an independent traveler (POP status) and you will not be joining one of the scheduled transfers, see “Ground Transportation to First Location.” Rooms are guaranteed for early check-in. Orientation-The group leader will greet everyone and lead introductions. We will review the up-to-date program schedule and any changes, discuss roles and responsibilities, logistics, safety guidelines, emergency procedures, and answer questions. Periods in the schedule labeled "Free Time" and "At Leisure" offer opportunities to make the program more meaningful and memorable while going out to explore on your own, engaging in available activities independently, making new friends among fellow Road Scholars, or simply relaxing. The Group Leader will always be happy to offer suggestions. Program activities, schedules, personnel, and indicated distances or times may change due to local circumstances/conditions. In the event of changes, we will alert you as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding.

Lunch: Bristol Restaurant in hotel, lobby level. This is a Chilean-style multi course plated lunch. A selection of non-alcoholic beverages are included.

Afternoon: Explore historic Santiago and surrounding neighborhoods on a guided visit with stops at the city's historic center, Plaza de Armas, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Pre-Columbian Art Museum and the Presidential Palace. Continue to Saint Christopher Hill, with its iconic, 46-feet-high statue of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception for great views of Santiago (weather and smog permitting). Drive through the neighborhoods of Providencia, Las Condes, and Vitacura, then stop at Pueblito Los Dominicos, a charming local handicraft market (time permitting).

Dinner: Late (Chilean-style timing) plated dinner in the hotel's Bristol Restaurant, lobby level. A selection of non-alcoholic beverages are included.

DAY

3

Fly to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Afternoon at Leisure

Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

B,L,D

Hotel Otai

Activity note: Non stop flight from Santiago to Rapa Nui (approximately 5 hours) Local time time in Easter Island is two hours behind mainland Chile

Breakfast: Light breakfast in the hotel lobby. This grab and go breakfast consists of an assortment of pastry, fruit and juices.

Lunch: A light snack will be served upon arrival to the hotel. This snack will be buffet style and includes items such as empanadas, an assortment of cheese & meats, and Pan de molde. A selection of non-alcoholic beverages are included.

Afternoon: After lunch your afternoon will be at leisure to explore Hanga Roa town or rest. You might wish to have the local post office (located right across the street from the hotel) stamp your passport with a unique moai statues stamp (free of harge).The stamp does not have any legal implications; it's simply a nice memento of your time in Rapa Nui. (M- F: 9am -1pm & 3-6 pm; Sat: 10 am-1 pm) or walk take a short walk to the harbor to see our first moai.

Dinner: Welcome Dinner in hotel restaurant. Enjoy a plated meal with choices of meat or fish. Menu changes based on season and availability. Coffee, tea or water included with meal. Alcoholic beverages available for purchase.

Evening: At Leisure to explore or relax and prepare for the next day's activities.

Morning: Begin with a welcome and overview class of Rapa Nui. Discover the Padre Sebastian Englert Archaeological Museum on a guided visit of museum and its artifacts, including the only intact white coral moai eye, as well as displays of local geology, flora and fauna; maps; illustrations of house types; and many other elements of Rapa Nui culture. Padre Sebastian Englert was a missionary priest who lived on the island nearly 35 years and studied the people, the culture and the carvings. White numbers are still visible on some of the moai and pukao that are part of the system he developed while inventorying the islands artifacts. The new museum and associated facilities were built with a grant in aid from Japan.

Lunch: At Hotel. Enjoy a plated meal with choices of meat or fish. Menu changes based on season and availability. Coffee, tea or water included with meal. Alcoholic beverages available for purchase.

Afternoon: Head to Tahai for an introduction to the famous monoliths of Rapa Nui: Ahu Vai Ure topped by five moai; Ahu Tahai (A.D. 680); and Ahu Ko te Riku (A.D. 12th century, a 15½-feet-high, 20-ton moai that is topped by a pukao (red scoria top knot). At Hanga Kio`e, a small bay just past town, view two more ahu restored by Dr. William Mulloy, part of a larger site that includes Ahu Akapu with its solitary moai and Dr. Mulloy's gravesite.

Dinner: At a local Rapa Nui restaurant. Meal includes a choice of meat or fish. A selection of non-alcoholic beverages are included.

Evening: At Leisure to explore or relax and prepare for the next day's activities.

DAY

5

Ahu Vaihu, Tongariki and Rano Raraku

Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

B,L,D

Hotel Otai

Activity note: Walking up and down the quarry of the moai. Tracks and stairs while climbing. Climbing shoes, no flat soles, are recommended. Walking sticks in case you need extra support

Breakfast: Buffet- Hotel Otai

Morning: Choose to explore Hanga Roa village either on a guided visit or independently. Then set off to the archaeological site of Ahu Vaihu. Constructed of finely crafted stones, Ahu Vaihu is located at the small bay of Hanga Te`e. The ahu has 11 toppled moai whose pukao (top knots) are lying where they fell, and a circle of rocks on the ground, used for paina ceremonies to honor the dead. Continue down the South Coast along the wind- and wave-carved shoreline, past many collapsed ahu, toppled moai and fallen stone fences to Rano Raraku.

Lunch: Picnic lunch in the National Park Picnic Area.

Afternoon: Climb the mountainside path to view the quarry from where the massive moai were carved out of the hard basalt. Moai, in all stages of production, cover its southern flank. Continue to Tongariki, the largest ahu (temple platform) on the island. Demolished in 1960 by the tremendous force of a tsunami, Tongariki has recently been restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino and Sergio Rapu with the help of Japanese archaeologists and the Rapa Nui people, so it once again supports its 15 moai.

Morning: Class: The People of Old - Rapa Nui Ancient Culture. Later in the morning, set off for an exploration of archaeological sites, beginning at Ahu Vinapu, whose construction has raised many questions due to its similarity to the pre-Columbian structures found in Cuzco, Peru.

Lunch: Tunu Ahi Barbeque Lunch at Anakena Beach.

Afternoon: Discover Anakena, a beautiful, sheltered, white sand beach surrounded by swaying palm trees. This beach, the largest in Rapa Nui, is where Hotu Matu`a is said to have beached his canoe and lived in one of several caves while waiting for his boat-shaped house to be completed. Take a swim or stroll the beach before going up the hill to Ahu Nau Nau, a complex archaeological site where, in 1978, Study Leader Sergio Rapu, in reconstructing the ahu, first recognized that the coral fragments unearthed in the sand were the inlaid coral eyes of the moai. With this discovery and the subsequent investigation of other moai came the realization that all Rapa Nui's moai, once they were placed on the ahu, were given eyes. Barbecue lunch at Anakena then depart for Poike Ditch where according to legend the Long Ears and Short Ears had their famed battle.

Dinner: At a local Rapa Nui restaurant. Meal includes a choice of meat or fish. A selection of non-alcoholic beverages are included.

Activity note: Field trip to Orongo demands some walking on even and uneven terrain, also climbing few steps and standing during explanations. Light wind breaker recommended.

Breakfast: Buffet- Hotel Otai

Morning: Morning at Leisure. Choose to relax or attend Sunday mass at the historic Rapa Nui Roman Catholic church, where the choral hymns are sung in the Rapa Nui language. The hand-carved wooden statues and designs used on the vestments are wonderful examples of the use of culturally related symbolism in liturgical art.

Lunch: Plated meal at hotel.

Afternoon: Drive to Parque Nacional Rapa Nui, where you visit two of the truly great sights of Rapa Nui -- Rano Kao crater, a fresh-water lake, and Orongo Ceremonial Village where, until 1853, the infamous Birdman Festival was held in the spring of each year. Located on the southwestern point of the triangle, the park provides spectacular views of the whole island. Then, head to Ana Kai Tangata, which can be translated as place-men-eat, which could mean a place where men took shelter for meals. The cave is known for its ancient paintings of sooty terns flying across the roof.

Dinner: Home-Hosted Dinner at a local Rapa Nui families home. Enjoy a delicious selection of classic local dishes while dining as the locals do. Wine and water included with dinner.

Morning: Field Trip: Depart on bus for Ahu Huri a Urenga, Ahu Akivi and Puna Pau, the top knot quarry, to take one last look at moai before your departure tomorrow. Return to hotel and gather in the hotel's meeting space for a Wrap Up Session Class.

Lunch: On your own to explore local eateries for the last time before your departure.

Morning: Early morning arrival in US (location depends on individual's gateway airport). If you are returning home, safe travels. If you are staying on independently, have a wonderful time. If you are transferring to another Road Scholar program, detailed instructions are included in your Information Packet for that program. We hope you enjoy Road Scholar learning adventures and look forward to having you on rewarding programs in the future. Please join our Facebook page and share photos of your program. Visit us at www.facebook.com/rsadventures. Best wishes for all your journeys!

Meals

20 Meals

7 Breakfasts

6 Lunches

7 Dinners

The following choices may be available when requested in advance:

Lodging

Lodgings may differ by date. Select a date to see the lodgings specific to that date.

Located in the center of Santiago’s business and financial district, the Hotel Plaza San Francisco is within walking distance of museums, the opera house, the subway and shops. The hotel completed a renovation in 2007 and is reputed as Santiago’s premier hotel. Its Bristol Restaurant has received a variety of national and international culinary distinctions.

Otai means "In the Coast" in Rapa Nui language. Surrounded by beautiful gardens, the Hotel Otai is a simple, quaint hotel located in the center of Hanga Roa and just a short walk to the coastline. (PLEASE NOTE: Hotels in Easter Island are basic by North American Standards. They are clean, safe and well-kept but all materials must be brought from the mainland by air or by monthly supply ship. Please set your expectations appropriately.)

Almost 70 years ago I was entranced by Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki and Aku Aku. To finally be here was a dream come true. The island was more lush, the local traditions still strong and its people more welcoming, happy and proud of their heritage than I expected. I am entranced with the modern Rapa Nui.

The expert lecturers thoroughly presenting all of the facts, theories and hypotheses along with the statues visual impact will leave you in awe. Engage the island culture and breath deep!Indeed an overall unique experience.

This was a fantastic experience on the "tiny" island of Rapa Nui. We learned much, and of the plight of the indigenous islanders. The archaeological sites (Moai, Ahus) were amazing. The week-long immersion was wonderful.